"Japan has a remarkably refined textile tradition, and for centuries the Japanese have admired the silks produced in the Nishijin neighborhood of Kyoto as the epitome of beauty and opulence. Woven Treasures will feature some of the sumptuous pieces created in one of Nishijin’s oldest and most illustrious workshops: Tawaraya.

With a history stretching back more than 500 years, the Tawaraya workshop is renowned for supplying the Japanese Imperial Household with yusoku orimono—fine silks in patterns, weaves, and color combinations traditionally reserved for the garments and furnishings of the aristocracy, including the Emperor."

I'll be there this weekend, and will bring back a review and I hope some photos for those who can't make it.

It seems I am the reason we can't have nice things...

Lady Kimiko wrote:
Allow me to drool...

Makiwara wrote:
(This is why I don't associate with vagrants, peasants or actors. They have no concept of how to care for nice things.)

Post by erink on Aug 16, 2012 18:53:50 GMT -5

I managed to go see this before Pennsic. It was pretty awesome, though a small collection. (Alas, it closed the last weekend of Pennsic and won't be traveling anywhere else.) And no photos were allowed in the gallery.

All of the textiles were modern, but some were copies of imported textiles that were saved in the shosoin since the Nara period.

There were some interesting patterned Japanese fabrics from late period that were a lot busier patterns than I've seen. Close repeating flowers with vines, almost William Morris style. The text for one of them said it would be appropriate for a mid-level samurai. It made me wonder if the fabric I see in the Costume Museum is too much influenced by modern aesthetics. And the fact that a lot of paintings of crowds are so small that only really basic patterns can be painted....

In my mind the best part was the video in the education center upstairs. It was a film made in the 1970s about the then head of the workshop, Kitagawa Heiro. It showed how he studied historical textiles to reproduce them, plotting the pattern out on grid paper and matching dyes and thread width. It showed the techniques used to create the brocades - there's an overall pattern in the background but the ornament medallions and such are woven in with hand shuttles on top. It's all controlled by punch cards - even the little ornaments - but apparently in the past they used less skilled apprentices for it! The really cool part was the story of his quest to recreate this patterned gauze that was popular in the 8th century. There were a few surviving examples but it was so difficult to make that the technology was lost. Through trial and error based on a lot of educated guesses, he was able to produce the fabric. (Sounds a little like this laurel I know...)

Another cool thing was seeing the pattern layouts on some of the fabric bolts. My beau noticed a gap in the pattern on one of them and we started looking around. One of the silks with a large distinct pattern (the kirin, paulownia, bamboo gauze) had an obvious shoulder gap and then the pattern repeated upside down on the other side!

When we got done watching the video there was a tour going on and a staff member was talking about how they had staged the fabric and garments for the exhibit. I thought it was kind of funny because she was talking about how they were taking special care with the fabric to avoid damaging it, they were afraid to steam the creases and curves out - and I'm thinking, it's silk! It's 20th century at the oldest! This is probably the most robust stuff in the museum!

The museum shop was pretty nice too. I've been converted to a fan, though I'd never been to the Textile Museum before. They have an Ottoman textiles exhibit coming up in the fall that I'm hoping to make another trip for!

Post by Lady Kimiko on Sept 23, 2012 15:01:45 GMT -5

This exhibit is now closed, and now if I share photos from it I won't damage any potential revenue. I'll post pictures I "accidently" took while in it (no I didnt dare use flash). The exhibit didnt sell any material that I can cite or share....I suspect my photos are some of the only ones we will have to document what was offered there. If the exhibit had sold material I would have bought it.

Erink is spot on with their description.

It seems I am the reason we can't have nice things...

Lady Kimiko wrote:
Allow me to drool...

Makiwara wrote:
(This is why I don't associate with vagrants, peasants or actors. They have no concept of how to care for nice things.)

Post by Lady Kimiko on Oct 11, 2012 12:13:01 GMT -5

As stated previously, here are the photos from the exhibit. The exhibit is now closed, so sharing photos from this exhibit will NOT damage revenue. Further more, the photos taken were taken without flash, which can damage textiles.

**These photos are for purely personal educational purposes and may not be used for ANY commercial purposes.**

It seems I am the reason we can't have nice things...

Lady Kimiko wrote:
Allow me to drool...

Makiwara wrote:
(This is why I don't associate with vagrants, peasants or actors. They have no concept of how to care for nice things.)